This blog is the diary of a journey through the Sahara undertaken February-May 2007.

Land Rover for Sale

The adventure is over, and I'm back in Ireland, only three weeks later than originally planned. Sunday was the longest day's drive of all, 870km on the quiet motorways of Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. At Cherbourg the heavy duty springs finally got something to complain about - eight cases of wine and a couple of beer - and then it was onto the ferry for Rosslare and home.

Some numbers:

16 Countries - 98 Days - 14,823 Miles - 23,855 Km - Cheapest fuel €0.15 (Alg) - Dearest fuel €1.16 (Italy) - 1 Puncture - 3kg Lighter - 1455 Photographs - 50˚C (Agadez, Niger) - 5 days, longest stop (Agadez again)



My highlights were

• First encounter with real desert in Mauritania

• All of Mali - the baobabs, the music clubs of Bamako, and especially the Dogon region and the river trip to Niafounké

• The mountains and deserts in Southern Algeria

The most enjoyable aspect of the journey was the people, especially away from the tourist centres of Morocco and Tunisia. Not a day passed without an interesting encounter.

Travelling overland, it is striking how quickly you can move from the rich world to the poor. Taking the UN Human Development Index as a guide we moved from Ireland (4th highest) to Spain (19); then - just eight miles over the Gibraltar Strait - to Morocco (123), Mauritania (153), Mali (175) and Niger (177), the poorest country of all by UN rankings.

Yet, despite all the problems of climate, poor government, and the daily struggle for survival, these are safe and fascinating places to visit. Well organised tourism, such as we experienced in the Dogon and southern Algeria, is one way to make a direct contribution to their development, in my opinion.

Anyway, this is the last post, and a big Thank You to everyone who wrote to say you enjoyed reading and travelled in spirit, it was great to get your emails and comments. And appreciation to my co-drivers Stefanie, Jason and Con for sharing the journey.

Now, if you know anyone interested in buying a well-tested Land Rover, you know where to look!

The End

Toumani Diabate

Toumani Diabate is a Malian kora player, the 71st generation of a griot family. He and his "Symmetric Orchestra" played in Dublin twice last year, and he is really responsible for this Sahara journey. In Dublin he told us about the March concerts to honour Ali Farka Toure, and set in motion the plan to visit Mali, which expanded into the whole roadtrip. One of the highlights was meeting Toumani at his club, Le Hogon, in Bamako.

So, it was a nice bit of symmetry to find he was playing in Cologne this week, and Stefanie and I made it to the concert. It was in the Philharmonic Hall, and was filmed for German TV, so was a little more formal than the usual. It was funny to see rows of besuited men who I can only think were Philharmonic season ticket holders who were misled by the word "Orchestra" on the bill. Still, even they, with some encouragement, were on their feet by the end.

He finished with the first playing of a solo piece from his next album, due this year some time. It was a wonderful finale to the evening and (almost) to the journey. I'll do another post from Ireland next week to wrap things up.

For more information about Toumani, and a very nice short video, see World Circuit. Click on the album image on the lower left.